Streep, during an appearance on Ellen DeGeneres show, revealed that she was fast asleep when the nominations were announced.
"How did you find out? Were you like waiting by the phone?," DeGeneres, who will host the Oscar awards this year, asked Streep.
"No. I was dead asleep. Late,' Meryl replied. 'And because I didn't think I had a chance you know?," the actress said.
"Because I'm so old news, you know," Streep said.
The best actress category has nominees like Amy Adams for 'American Hustle', Cate Blancett for 'Blue Jasmine', Sandra Bullock for 'Gravity' and Judi Dench for 'Philomena'.
Streep has won the golden statuette thrice, for her role of Margaret Thatcher in 'Iron Lady', in 1983 for 'Sophie's Choice' and in 1980 for 'Kramer vs Kramer'.
The actress said she felt bad that her friend Emma Thompson was left out in the best actress category despite giving a great performance as British author P L Travers in 'Saving Mr Banks'.